Joshua Stewart

The Navy edges out the Air Force

By Joshua Stewart on April 18, 2012 Navy

Joint Base Andrews emphasizing its jointness. The water tower alongside the Capital Beltway has long referenced the Air Force, but today it also includes the Navy. Scaffolding and “NAV” and the outline of a “Y” were spotted on the structure. It may be a few more days until it’s done – it rained today and it’s not the best weather for painting. It may not seem like a huge deal in itself – it is just a water tower alongside a busy road – but the structure is prime real estate. It’s visible from the DC Beltway, the congested artery…

Academy QB resigns

By Joshua Stewart on April 18, 2012 Naval Academy

A billet for a starting quarterback has opened up at the Naval Academy. The Capital newspaper in Annapolis reports that Kriss Proctor has resigned with 22 games, including 14 starts, rushing for 1,441 yards over two seasons of varsity action. “Midshipman Proctor has submitted a resignation that is currently under review,” The Capital quoted Commander William Marks, an academy spokesman, as saying. Citing an unnamed source, The Capital said Proctor was facing an Honor Code violation.

Sea, Air and mostly Space, the main (unscheduled) event

By Joshua Stewart on April 17, 2012 Navy, Sea Air Space, Space travel

The biggest attraction at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space symposium Tuesday was not on the day’s agenda. Just before 10 a.m., the crowd at the convention center south of Washington began to thin out. People headed outside and looked toward the Potomac River. Soon enough, the space shuttle Discovery flew by, piggy-backing on a modified Boeing 747. The shuttle was traveling from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a Smithsonian-owned hangar just outside the city. It actually made two passes.

Alaska's second bridge to nowhere would require the carrier Enterprise

By Joshua Stewart on March 28, 2012 Navy

As the carrier Enterprise gets closer to the end of its last deployment, questions about the fate of the world’s most famous warship are surfacing. Well, people in Southeast Alaska have an idea: Use it as a bridge to connect Ketchikan and Gravina Island. As a bonus, it’s a floating power plant, tourist attraction and platform for trinket shops. Even without the trinkets, this way is better than the original plan to connect the two islands, the so-called Bridge to Nowhere. But still, the aircraft-carrier-turned-bridge would have its own set issues, ones just as serious as a multimillion dollar road…

A 'Like' From John Paul Jones?

By Joshua Stewart on February 29, 2012 Facebook

The Navy is switching to a re-vamped Facebook format that shows everything important that has ever happened in the service’s history. Gone will be the standard page. Instead, information will be in the “Timeline” format, which allows visitors to see every photo, comment and ‘like’ ever posted on the Navy’s page. It also allows the Navy to put in old photos and important events, including its “birth.” Typically, people put in cutesy pictures of themselves as a newborn, but here, clearly, should be a shot of John Paul Jones.

Navy croquet sobers up

By Joshua Stewart on February 17, 2012 Navy

The St. John’s College and Naval Academy annual croquet match, the country’s biggest collegiate event in the sport, was just hit with some horrible news: You can no longer bring your own alcohol to the match. Under policies released this year, you will no longer be able to bring your own booze onto St. John’s, the classically liberal school that hosts the event. Instead, you’ll have to buy your own beer, wine and champagne at a cash-only bar. And don’t think about sneaking in your own private stash: Bags and baskets are subject to search. This is pretty major, since…

Hand is an amazing, yet creepy, Navy development

By Joshua Stewart on February 2, 2012 Facebook, Health, Medical, Navy

The Navy has developed one of the most realistic prosthetic limbs ever. Creepily realistic. The picture appeared on the Navy’s Facebook page but it didn’t include many details. What is clear is that it’s part of the Navy’s ongoing work to make wounded service members as whole as possible. Needless to say, this is an amazing piece of equipment that will hopefully improve somebody’s life in immeasurable ways. But until then, it seems unnaturally lifelike and kind of reminds the Scoop Deck of this: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TtGQnyPZ6g&feature=related[/youtube]

A public apology for barfing on the COD

By Joshua Stewart on January 30, 2012 Aviation, Carrier On-Board Delivery plane, Carriers, Chow, COMPTUEX, Enterprise, Life at Sea, Naval aviation, Navy

Dear VRC-40 “The Rawhides,” I’m just writing to apologize for getting airsick in your C-2A Greyhound. It was certainly unintentional. You handled the plane with steady hands as we flew from Naval Air Station Mayport, Fla., to the carrier Enterprise last week. We even had weather on our side, allowing for a particularly calm flight. If only my stomach was able to manage my breakfast as well as you flew the COD. Usually I handle flights pretty well, but the combination of the smell of aviation fuel, the lack of windows, the heat and the sheer grittiness of the Navy’s…

The word of the day is…

By Joshua Stewart on January 12, 2012 Navy

“Zorching” As in hustling, or zooming, or cruising really, really fast. During a Jan. 11 press conference, Capt. John Kirby, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations, expanded our vocabulary with this term. He was talking about aircraft carrier presence near Iran, particularly the recent arrival of the carrier Carl Vinson, and how the ship’s entrance into 5th Fleet has nothing to do with heightened tensions in the region. Here’s Kirby’s language lesson for the day: Kirby: And as you all know, I mean, to get an aircraft carrier strike group anywhere in the world takes time. It…

Keep calm and carry on

By Joshua Stewart on January 6, 2012 5th Fleet, Admirals, Carriers, Facebook, Iran, Navy

Despite trash-talk from Iran, the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is keeping its cool. After practicing blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a highway for about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, Iranian Army chief Ataollah Salehi pledged consequences if a U.S. aircraft carrier entered the Persian Golf. “I advise, recommend and warn them over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once,” Salehi said. Days earlier, one of his country’s aircraft captured footage of the Stennis as it operated in the Gulf. Iranian officials claimed…

Author Joshua Stewart